Category: History

Jared Burkholder teaching

Jared on C-SPAN: Pacifists in the American Revolution

June 26, 2015

6/26/15 – Look who’s taking over C-SPAN: it’s Pietist Schoolman guest-blogger Jared Burkholder, speaking about religious pacifists during the American Revolution. Jared points to the diversity in responses from the Moravians, Mennonites, Brethren, and other “peace church” traditions — several rooted in Pietism. (Incidentally, I had wondered aloud about this topic way back in a 2012 blog post … More Jared on C-SPAN: Pacifists in the American Revolution

5 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Pietists

June 26, 2015

Click-baity? Sure, but only half as click-baity as what Russell Moore did this week for the Southern Baptists… Here are five things I wish everyone knew about Pietists: We still exist If most people know anything about Pietism, they most likely think of a religious movement in the late 17th and early 18th century. But unlike other Christian traditions, … More 5 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Pietists

Waldensian Presbyterian Church - Valdese, NC

Christian Unity as “Reconciled Diversity”

June 23, 2015

His encyclical Laudato Si’ has received such enormous (and justifiable) attention this month that I wonder how many people have noticed two smaller events involving Pope Francis: • On June 15th, the pope met with Czech Christians whose churches descend from the 15th century renewal movement led by Jan Hus, a key precursor to the Protestant Reformation … More Christian Unity as “Reconciled Diversity”

Syrian refugees at a clinic in Jordan

World Refugee Day

June 20, 2015

At least among Americans, I think, one of the least known consequences of World War II is that it left in its wake at least 50 million refugees — about one in 45 persons alive at the time. The policies of Hitler and Stalin had dislocated some 30 million persons just between 1939 and 1943, and millions more in … More World Refugee Day

Swedish Baptists in 1902

The Forgotten Baptists

June 18, 2015

Even for historians as gifted as Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins, three hundred pages is not nearly enough to do justice to the full diversity of Baptists in America, the title of their new book from Oxford University Press. So I’m not surprised that they pay little attention to the rather pietistic Baptists I know best. Founded as the … More The Forgotten Baptists

Mantel, Wolf Hall

The Virtues of Historical Fiction

June 17, 2015

“Historical fiction,” observes editor Kathryn Sutherland, “has always been popular, of course, but it rarely enjoys high critical esteem.” While it has drawn its share of readers ever since the days of Walter Scott, historical fiction often suffers by comparison to more academic engagements with the past. But Sutherland thinks that historical fiction has often done better than … More The Virtues of Historical Fiction

Extant copy of the 1215 Magna Carta

The Magna Carta at 800

June 15, 2015

Eight centuries ago today King John of England sealed the Great Charter (in Latin, Magna Carta) with his rebellious barons. Often seen as the cornerstone of the British constitution, the Magna Carta has also been a popular touchpoint for American political thinkers going back to the Revolution. Learn more from the British Library, repository of two of … More The Magna Carta at 800

“The Dark World Is Not Far From Us”: A WWII Atrocity

June 11, 2015

If there are better histories of World War II being written than the books in Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, I haven’t read them. A former reporter and editor for the Washington Post, Atkinson conceived the massive project of writing the history of how the British and Americans fought their way back to Europe. Having read the Pulitzer-winning first book … More “The Dark World Is Not Far From Us”: A WWII Atrocity

Inside an Underwood typewriter

History as “An Aggressive Act”

June 8, 2015

The few times I’ve daydreamed about having another career, I’ve almost always imagined myself a journalist. It’s maybe not much of a stretch for a historian. Journalists, after all, are writing the “first draft of history.” But if I’m being perfectly honest, I’m really only interested in a particular sort of journalism, one that may seem less than serious and … More History as “An Aggressive Act”